So…gods and robots, actually is eventually including something about gods. So, how many more parts of gods and robots will there be to even up the billing. 😉
Ahh well that sounds like the sort of repost that comes after some thought as it rang too true 😂. Or it could be that today’s Friday and a new gods & robots part is due out so you’re “on” substack. Just kidding.
After last week's chapter I let my brain mull over the problems in the background and, just before opening this chapter arrived at "Ah, what if the Gods have done something to cut Probably Better off from the sun?" (which I DMd to Simon before reading) "But," I continued, "maybe PB's tech combined with his Palinor materials let him have a 'magical battery,'" which was a concept I posited way back in the story involving the micro-rift opening in the warehouse before the micro-rift was revealed (figuring if a Max Earth power cell could come through charged but would discharge quickly, something similar was logical with magic, especially as a spell active on transit to Mid Earth still functions for awhile), "allowing PB to surprise the Gods by continuing the fight."
Nope. Totally wrong. Good gag, though.
Been waiting for the Gods to show up since the beginning of the "Gods and Monsters" arc, because, y'know, it's in the title, but had forgotten the myth about Unihex's sword.
That was epic.
Apparently I gasped aloud reading that -- for my wife and I were waiting for a taxi to get to the Irish Discworld Convention -- cuz Laura looked over at me with alarm. "What? What's wrong?"
Bye, Jacinda. And thousands of others. The shit has truly hit the fan and the spinning blades are flinging it all around.
I'm glad these chapters are prompting thoughts of "what the hell is going to happen next?" and "how are they going to get out of this one?"
Depending on how the gods did it, blacking out the sun in order to starve PB of its energies could end up causing more problems than it solves - unintended consequences and all that. It would be risky, for sure.
Also, Unihex has a BFO sword. That'll sort out the pesky upstart from Max-Earth, surely?
I'm slightly amused that you called the chapter 'Gods and Monsters', because I've come very close to typing that multiple times over the last month and a half. It is, of course, 'Gods and Robots'.
You don't know how pleased I am to hear that the sword moment worked, and elicited a gasp. That was the intention, but it's REALLY hard to do that in prose, I find. Capturing that immediacy required for a gasp reaction is much easier in visual mediums, but when it does work in the written word it can be every bit as effective.
Correction - I'm informed it wasn't a gasp, but a "Huh!"
Sadly, with Bruglia, there's a lot of dirt and debris around to form a solid dome. That's low unintended consequences risk. It's also something PB breaks by physical methods, of course...
We could figure out others (could visualisation magic be used to create an opaque surface? I'm not certain if visualisation magic in the story creates "holograms" or work directly on the optic centers of the brain, but lean towards "hologram"), but that would be an exercise in "what if?" on a gag you didn't use. Instead, I go back to chatting with Laura as we hope to finish dinner before the "Maskerade" starts at Irish Discworld Convention in... 45 minutes or so.
Oh, yes, the BFO sword. May cut stone, but PB's hull is built to survive re-entry heat...which melts stone.
You could surprise me here, but I speculated at the beginning of this arc the Gods would get their asses handed to them. "Deicide" isn't a term one often gets to use in casual conversation...
With the power escalation going on here I still think the day will be won in the end by the humble.
Personally, I love the mash-up! True, it was a bit of a shock when the word "God" popped up in this chapter but then I went: Of course! Who better to stop a rogue god-like AI than a group of actual deities? If you really think about it, the AI could be seen as god we accidentally gave life to as well, at least in this context, since it's clearly escaped its creators' control by now...
Anyway, I also love how Triverse see-saws between SF & fantasy, leaning far into the SF for a few chapters, then leaning back into fantasy, upping the stakes every time. Great lessons in pacing long-form fiction in there.
The parallels between the Palinor gods and the tech-god of Max-Earth is appropriate, for sure. You could look to the Matheson-Baltine-Hutchinson conspiracy as a rejection of those gods: especially Max-Earth's network of superintelligences. They created a new god in 'Probably Better' to undermine the situation on Max-Earth, lost control, and now we have old and new gods butting heads.
Taking a step back to our current AI situation, where we already have people forming very close ties with AI systems like ChatGPT, to the point of feeling loss when a new version comes out, and it's not hard to imagine a religious aspect to it all.
Glad the genre see-sawing is working for you! It certainly keeps it interesting to write, and hopefully that carries through to making it interesting to read.
It's good you've gotten into Muddy and the Wolf: you would probably also like some of their contemporaries, such as Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, and Sonny Boy Williamson.
So…gods and robots, actually is eventually including something about gods. So, how many more parts of gods and robots will there be to even up the billing. 😉
That’s assuming they are on an equal power footing…
Ahh well that sounds like the sort of repost that comes after some thought as it rang too true 😂. Or it could be that today’s Friday and a new gods & robots part is due out so you’re “on” substack. Just kidding.
After last week's chapter I let my brain mull over the problems in the background and, just before opening this chapter arrived at "Ah, what if the Gods have done something to cut Probably Better off from the sun?" (which I DMd to Simon before reading) "But," I continued, "maybe PB's tech combined with his Palinor materials let him have a 'magical battery,'" which was a concept I posited way back in the story involving the micro-rift opening in the warehouse before the micro-rift was revealed (figuring if a Max Earth power cell could come through charged but would discharge quickly, something similar was logical with magic, especially as a spell active on transit to Mid Earth still functions for awhile), "allowing PB to surprise the Gods by continuing the fight."
Nope. Totally wrong. Good gag, though.
Been waiting for the Gods to show up since the beginning of the "Gods and Monsters" arc, because, y'know, it's in the title, but had forgotten the myth about Unihex's sword.
That was epic.
Apparently I gasped aloud reading that -- for my wife and I were waiting for a taxi to get to the Irish Discworld Convention -- cuz Laura looked over at me with alarm. "What? What's wrong?"
Bye, Jacinda. And thousands of others. The shit has truly hit the fan and the spinning blades are flinging it all around.
I'm glad these chapters are prompting thoughts of "what the hell is going to happen next?" and "how are they going to get out of this one?"
Depending on how the gods did it, blacking out the sun in order to starve PB of its energies could end up causing more problems than it solves - unintended consequences and all that. It would be risky, for sure.
Also, Unihex has a BFO sword. That'll sort out the pesky upstart from Max-Earth, surely?
I'm slightly amused that you called the chapter 'Gods and Monsters', because I've come very close to typing that multiple times over the last month and a half. It is, of course, 'Gods and Robots'.
You don't know how pleased I am to hear that the sword moment worked, and elicited a gasp. That was the intention, but it's REALLY hard to do that in prose, I find. Capturing that immediacy required for a gasp reaction is much easier in visual mediums, but when it does work in the written word it can be every bit as effective.
Ack, "Gods and Robots!"
Correction - I'm informed it wasn't a gasp, but a "Huh!"
Sadly, with Bruglia, there's a lot of dirt and debris around to form a solid dome. That's low unintended consequences risk. It's also something PB breaks by physical methods, of course...
We could figure out others (could visualisation magic be used to create an opaque surface? I'm not certain if visualisation magic in the story creates "holograms" or work directly on the optic centers of the brain, but lean towards "hologram"), but that would be an exercise in "what if?" on a gag you didn't use. Instead, I go back to chatting with Laura as we hope to finish dinner before the "Maskerade" starts at Irish Discworld Convention in... 45 minutes or so.
Oh, yes, the BFO sword. May cut stone, but PB's hull is built to survive re-entry heat...which melts stone.
You could surprise me here, but I speculated at the beginning of this arc the Gods would get their asses handed to them. "Deicide" isn't a term one often gets to use in casual conversation...
With the power escalation going on here I still think the day will be won in the end by the humble.
enthralled
Thanks, Owen.
Thank you for the kind words on Post Games!
Thanks for writing Post Games! :)
Personally, I love the mash-up! True, it was a bit of a shock when the word "God" popped up in this chapter but then I went: Of course! Who better to stop a rogue god-like AI than a group of actual deities? If you really think about it, the AI could be seen as god we accidentally gave life to as well, at least in this context, since it's clearly escaped its creators' control by now...
Anyway, I also love how Triverse see-saws between SF & fantasy, leaning far into the SF for a few chapters, then leaning back into fantasy, upping the stakes every time. Great lessons in pacing long-form fiction in there.
Excited for next week!
The parallels between the Palinor gods and the tech-god of Max-Earth is appropriate, for sure. You could look to the Matheson-Baltine-Hutchinson conspiracy as a rejection of those gods: especially Max-Earth's network of superintelligences. They created a new god in 'Probably Better' to undermine the situation on Max-Earth, lost control, and now we have old and new gods butting heads.
Taking a step back to our current AI situation, where we already have people forming very close ties with AI systems like ChatGPT, to the point of feeling loss when a new version comes out, and it's not hard to imagine a religious aspect to it all.
Glad the genre see-sawing is working for you! It certainly keeps it interesting to write, and hopefully that carries through to making it interesting to read.
I did not see that coming!!
Job done, then, I think? :P
Yeess. 😁
I don't think I've ever mentioned how much I enjoy the names you gave the AIs. After all this time I still chuckle.
It's good you've gotten into Muddy and the Wolf: you would probably also like some of their contemporaries, such as Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, and Sonny Boy Williamson.
Thanks, David! I will check them out.